Poultry Care Tips

[flowerpower]

All the grains should be available at your local farm store. I know TSC carries the catfish food.

[mnjrutherford]

TSC? Is that Tractor Supply? We have one of those being built.

On guineas... is it good, bad, or indifferent that we have at least one hen laying 2 eggs a day? We've had 4 eggs a day for 2 days in a row now. Only 3 hens. The boys thought the cock was laying also. We told them that cocks lay square eggs and only on odd days... wonder how long they will believe us.... ;o)

[flowerpower]

TSC=Tractor Supply Maybe they list it on the website.

I have no clue about the guineas. Are you absolutely sure one is a male? Someone here should know if they lay heavier in the spring.

[mnjrutherford]

Well, the fella that sold them to us is prolly as close to an expert as you would need... He told us that he tries to sell them in pairs but he was wheezing a bit trying to catch a second cock so we told him 3 hens were ok with us. He's an older man and needed a cart goodie to travel from his house to the guinea area which was about 150' away.

Anyhow, he told us that the way to tell the difference (aside from square eggs on odd days ;D ) was the wattles. On the hens the wattle lay flat to the head. On the cocks they are curled and appear "poofier" (my word not his).

If this is true, then I'm pretty sure we have one cock. Oh yea, I found a site that says that hens and cocks make different sounds and there is an audio of the different sounds. As near as I can tell, since they all "talk" at the same time, there are both sounds being made.

I was also sort of under the impression that there needs to be a cock around to "inspire" them to lay at all? I'm not sure if I read/heard that somewhere or if I just made that up out of thin air. Either is a possibility.

I will say that the eggs are very nice. I had one basted in olive oil for breakfast and it was WONDERful! I'm also thinking that for the purpose of weight loss, guinea eggs might be very useful because they are smaller? I'm going to check on that after posting....

[mnjrutherford]

Synopsis of Diet:
1 c Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother) to five gallons of feed
juiced veggies
garlic juice
50% oats - soaked, ferment in water in about five days
corn - whole, soaked
hot pepper (Ground cayenne pepper sticks to a damp feed really )
boiled eggs, whole & crushed
fish meal, sprinkle over damp feed
flax seed - 2 T. boiled in 6 oz water for 2 min.

Soak oats & corn at least 24 hours. After 24 hrs, skim off floating grains.

Is this sort of the recipe in a nutshell? I’m planning on purchasing the ingredients over the next couple of days and I need to have a sort or list so I don’t miss anything here.

I also have a few more questions:

1. Can I feed this to my guineas as well?
2. How much feed per bird?
3. Once a day or twice?
4. “Treats” (bread, heads of cabbage/lettuce, apples, etc) always in cage or only occasionally such as once or twice a week?
5. Should the above be in addition to mash or instead of mash or can I use the mash instead of any of the ingredients? (The mash I am using is a proprietary blend made by the local feed and grain store. The birdies like it, but I have no way to judge it’s quality beyond that.)

The information here is fabulous and I have a feeling that at least part of our success thus far can be attributed to the mentoring we’ve received here. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. THANK YOU!

[mnjrutherford]

OH yea.... catfish food! I nearly forgot that.... did I forget anything else?

[bluelacedredhead]

Don't feed more of the fermented/wet mash than they will consume in say 30 minutes. You don't want it sitting around and curdling/attracting flies/rodents/disease....

[mnjrutherford]

So I should start with say 4 ounces per bird and watch how it goes and adjust accordingly the following day? We have 32 teenage chickens (about 6 weeks old I think) and 10 mature guineas. So I'm thinking I would need about 11 lbs per day? YIKES... I'm thinking we may be way under feeding them if this works out...

OH... and cracking the whole grain... how exactly do you do that? In a blender? Whack it with a sort of pestle? If I'm soaking the stuff in a 1 gallon tub like container, I could use a baseball bat as a pestle?

Seems the more answers I get, the more questions I have... Thanks for being patient with me!

[spacecase0]

I crack grains with this
countrylivinggrainmills.com/
set to a very course setting

but if you are just cracking the grain,
then a roller mill might be the best,
they are fast to use and cheap to build.

[mnjrutherford]

mmm... ok.... Well, I don't have a roller mill and I sure ain't ready to lay down for the grain mill... What about a meat grinder? I have one of those!

[mnjrutherford]

Mar 3, 2009 20:46:17 GMT -5 cff said:

All grains are whole (Wheat Oats & Corn) if I'm feeding chicks I run (dry grains) through the hand grinder just before I feed it to them and mix with any extra boiled eggs that I have on hand.

As a general rule I only soak the oats in the winter; during the summer I soak the corn and the oats, All soaked grains are drained of the excess moisture for about 30 minuets before I mix in the dry ingredients.

My daily feed ration is mixed by volume, I use a coffee can for each part:

3 Parts whole corn
2 Parts (Wayne's Feeds Breeder Pellets) = lay pellets
1 Part whole wheat
1 part floating catfish feed
7 parts soaked oats
1 Cup Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar with the mother.

Everything is mixed in a large tub, I feed no more than the birds can clean up in 10 or 15 minuets twice a day.

I avoid allowing the poultry to become over weight, I raise Asils as healthy as I can because I can't replace the bloodlines I have.
The above mixture will keep them lean and healthy. If you want more weight replace equal parts of soaks oats in exchange for soaked corn, adjust until you have the poultry at the weight you like best.

I missed this somehow... the first 2 times I read through this thread. So, I don't have whole wheat...

What about the red pepper?

I'm guessing that the mash will adequately sub out for the pellets, right?

Grains only need to be soaked in winter?

[bluelacedredhead]

Like CFF said, he does it because he has a very rare breed of fowl. When I was showing fowl, I knew people who gave wetmash during breeding season and to get birds in optimum condition before show season.

I've sent you a PM with a feed regimen from a friend who has raise guineas for 15+ years...

[mnjrutherford]

So, my meat grinder can't handle the dried grain. I may have killed it in fact. I now have an urgent need for a grain mill. I've found them at eBay, but I was wondering if anyone here might have one they would like to sell before I fork over cash to a stranger.

[cff]

I jump through a lot of hoops because I have a rare breed - but as you start off with 32 layer type chicks why not just try a decent start and grow and supplement the chicks health with a few boiled eggs and some fresh green grass clippings?
Add the apple cider vinegar to the water and you should be set until there old enough to eat whole grains

[mnjrutherford]

WEEEllLLLLllLLLL I didn't do it different, because I didn't know any better. I went through the entire thread about 3 times. I tried my best to encapsulate the pertinent data and apply it. I asked LOTS of questions! I've got oats coming out of my EARS! Did you realize that when you soak those things they swell up like CRAZY!?!?

Besides, I'm learning some very valuable lessons and the stuff we've purchased won't go to waste. The cost has hurt us, especially coming this month. But even that is survivable. So... it's not so bad. Well, if we go out to the coop and the barred rocks are working out with weights... THEN there might some problems!